The parents of Britain’s biggest family reveal they have spent over £25,000 on more than 30 prams for their 22 children over the years in a new episode of their documentary series.
In Channel 5’s 22 Kids and Counting, bakery owner Noel Radford, 50, and his wife Sue, 45, from Morecombe, Lancashire, go pram shopping for their daughter Millie, 19, and her daughter Ophelia.
Millie, who is the seventh eldest child of Sue and Noel, and still lives at home, gave birth to her daughter in September, a month after the show was filmed.
The grandparents, who welcomed their youngest daughter Heidi in April last year, browse the shop and confess they have spent thousands on buggies, with Noel revealing: ‘I think of what we’ve spent on prams, what we could have had instead. A nice flash car, a Porsche on the driveway or something like that. But it is what it is, it was our choice so we buy pram instead.’
Noel Radford, 50, and his wife Sue, 45, admitted they had spent over £25,000 on 30 prams for their brood over the years on Channel 5’s 22 Kids and Counting
19-year-old Millie, who is the seventh eldest child of Sue and Noel, was seen preparing for the birth of her own baby girl Ophelia in the most recent episode of the series
Browsing the shop, Sue says: ‘When you’re having a new baby, to get a pram is the most important thing.
‘I was trying to think about how many prams we’ve been through?’
Noel insists: ‘It’s a minimum of 30 prams. Probably more than whats in this shop to be honest’.
Sue adds: ‘It’s going to be a lot more prams over the years!’
Millie, pictured with Ophelia, is still living at home in Morecambe, Lancashire, gave birth to her daughter in September, a month before the show was filmed
Meanwhile Millie confesses she was initially shocked to discover she was pregnant, and plans to raise the child as a singer mother while living at home with the 18 of her siblings and her parents.
Sue insists she has the continued support of her parents, saying: ‘It’s not the end of the world that you’re a single parent.
‘I kept saying to Millie, “You are going to be an amazing mum, which will more than make up for not having the dad in the picture”‘.
Noel adds: ‘From the very start she knew she had support from us.’
Millie gave birth to a baby girl in September, naming her Ophelia, with her parents saying she is an ‘amazing mum’ on tonight’s show (pictured)
Sue replies: ‘She’s not just got the support from me and you. She’s got the support from everybody.’
The episode also sees the family throw Millie a baby shower, planned by her 24-year-old sister Chloe.
‘The baby shower was very special because there were four generations of women, there was my mum, there was me, there was Millie, and Heidi’
However Noel corrects Sue: ‘That’s three, Millie is in the same generation as Heidi…just saying’.
At the end of August, Millie shared a picture of herself sitting with her bump, a baby seat and a towel with the name ‘Ophelia’ emblazoned on it
Millie shared her pregnancy journey with her 81,000 followers on Instagram. She is pictured revealing the gender of her baby
Accompanied by her mum, Millie gave birth to Sue and Noel’s sixth grandchild Ophelia on 19:05 September 11th, with the new mum video calling her family to introduce her new daughter.
Sue says: ‘It was very special watching Millie bring her daughter into the world and how amazing she did and I think I did a pretty good job to be honest.’
The happy news was announced on Instagram last year when Millie shared a picture of her baby’s feet as she lay on a peach blanket, accompanied by the caption: ‘The biggest chapter of our lives has begun.’
In a separate post on the Radford family’s Instagram page, the family said: ‘Welcome to the family beautiful Ophelia.
‘I can’t even put into words how incredibly proud I am of @millieradford you did AMAZING bringing this beautiful blessing into the world. We love you both so much.’
The post was accompanied with a picture of grandma Sue holding Ophelia while she grips on tightly to her thumb with her tiny hand.
Millie previously said her baby was conceived during a six-month relationship with a boy around her own age.
They are no longer together but her former partner has vowed to be a part of his baby’s life.
As for their own brood – Sue and Noel are also parents to; Chris, 30, Sophie, 26, Chloe, 24, Jack, 22, Daniel, 21, Luke, 19, Millie, 18, Katie, 17, James, 16, Ellie, 14, Aimee, 13, Josh, 12, Max, 11, Tillie, nine, Oscar, eight, Casper, seven, Hallie, four, Phoebe, three, Archie 2 and Bonnie, 1.
Chris has a daughter and son of his own and Sophie is also a mother-of-three.
The couple met for the first time when Sue was seven, before going on to have their first child when Sue was 14 and Noel was 19.
They got married in 1993 when Sue turned 18, and went on to have nine children before Noel had a vasectomy – which he later had reversed.
Sadly Alfie, the couple’s 17th child, was still born on July 6th 2014.